What began as Baron Zemo's plan for world domination became a superhero team comprised of super-villains seeking redemption only to be later reshuffled to act as Norman Osborn's personal hit squad before finally becoming a Government-sponsored prison reform project. Following the dissolution of the Thunderbolts, General Ross briefly formed an anti-terror vigilante group of the same name which eventually fell apart as well.

Thunderbolts

I really like the evolotion of the Thunderbolts. The first incarnation of the Thunderbolts featured a line-up of virtual nobodies (Moonstone, Atlas, Songbird, Fixer, Beetle, and Jolt) , of which really only Moonstone and Songbird would go on to become somewhat big players, with Moonstone joining the Dark Avengers and Songbird becoming specially targeted by Norman Osborn in Dark Reign. The original Tbolts were led by Baron Zemo, who lacks the charisma of most Super Villains. They were formed to fill a need for new heroes after Onslaught ravaged the Avengers, but they were secretly villains simply masquerading as Heroes. After this incarnation failed, the Thunderbolts were turned into a virtual army during Civil War. Led again by Baron Zemo, literally every apprehended super criminal was drafted into the Tbolts. Every D-list villain that is. After Civil War, Baron Zemo was sucked into a vortex of time and space and met his demise. When the team was again assembled, it had gained a couple of new, notable members. This is where I first started getting interested in the Tbolts, as it had old members such as Moonstone, Songbird, Swordsman, and Radioactive Man; infused with the newly disturbed Robbie Baldwin as Penance, Venom, and the secret member, Bullseye, not to mention that Norman Osborn was now the team leader. As Secret Invasion hit, this team was still together and very active during the final battle with the skrulls, during which Norman got the final kill-shot on the Skrull Queen, launching him into the public eye as a Hero and launching him into new heights as new appointed leader of H.A.M.M.E.R. With his new power, Norman drafted three of his Tbolts (Moonstone, Venom, Bullseye) into his Dark Avengers while murdering Swordsman and publicly disbanding the Tbolts. With the team disbanded publicly, Norman secretly formed a new Tbolts team intended to be almost a black ops style team. With new members Black Widow, Headsman, Ant-Man(Not Pym), Paladin, and Ghost, the Tbolts did Osborn's bidding until Black Widow was revealed to be a spy for Nick Fury, and left the team. Soon Scourge took over as head of the team, which also added Mister X and Grizzly. In a twist of fate, Scourge shot and killed Headsman, Leaving the final Osborn-Sanctioned roster at Scourge, Ant-Man, Paladin, Ghost, Mister X, and Grizzly. With the Tbolts about to get a new look, with Luke Cage of all people leading the team, I have to say I am again pleasantly suprised at the evolution of the Tbolts. The new lineup is set to be Luke Cage, Crossbones, Juggernaut, Ghost, Fixer, Mach-5, Songbird, and Moonstone. Mixing some well known characters with some lesser known characters. The thing I like is that this time constantly crosses over from being a heroic team to a villanous team, with the newest incarnation being supposedly heroic. I am really looking to see where this new team is taken...